PROC. ITB Eng. Science Vol. 38 B, No.

2, 2006, 99-113 99

Realization of a Second Harmonic Antenna for Rural

Communications*
Adit Kurniawan1, Ahmad Hasyim1 & Yuyu Wahyu2
1
School of Electrical Engineering and Informatics, Institut Teknologi Bandung
Jl. Ganesa 10 Bandung 40132, Telp. +62-22-2501661, Fax. +62-22-2534133
2
Research Centre of Electronics and Telecommunications,
Indonesian Institute of Science
Jl. Cisitu 21/154 D Bandung 40135, Telp. +62-22-2504660, Fax. +62-22-2504659

Abstract. In this research, an active antenna operated at the second harmonic

frequency is investigated, and is implemented using microstrip antenna material.
The antenna consists of a FET oscillator which plays as a fundamental frequency
oscillator and a frequency multiplier, and a patch antenna resonated at the second
harmonic frequency as the radiator. A maximum second-harmonic output power
can be extracted when the load impedance of the oscillator is optimized both at
the fundamental and at the second harmonic frequencies. A rectangular patch
antenna is used to radiate the second harmonic output power from the oscillator.
The patch impedance is matched resistively at the second harmonic frequency.
The patch antenna is fabricated using Diclad 522 microstrip substrates (relative
permitivity r = 2.5) with a dielectric thickness of 1.57 mm. A GaAs FET AT-
8250 transistor is used as an oscillator and a frequency multiplier and acts as the
active component. Fundamental frequency is designed at 2,4 GHz band, so that
the second harmonic frequency operates at 4,8 GHz band. The frequency is
chosen to facilitate and to extend the needs of communications in rural areas
using the unlicensed Industrial Scientific, and Medical (ISM) band. Operating
the communication infrastructures intended for the use at 2.4 GHz band at its
second harmonic frequency, is intended to alleviate interference levels at 2.4
GHz.

Keywords: active antenna; harmonic frequency; microstrip patch.

Realisasi Antena Harmonik Kedua untuk Komunikasi Daerah Terpencil

Sari. Pada penelitian ini, antena yang beroperasi pada frekuensi harmonik kedua
dipelajari dan diimplementasikan menggunakan bahan antena mikrostrip. Antena
yang dihasilkan terdiri dari sebuah osilator FET yang berfungsi sebagai
pembangkit frekuensi fundamental dan pengali frekuensi, serta antena patch
yang beresonansi pada frekuensi harmonik ke-dua sebagai peradiasi. Daya
maksimum pada frekuensi harmonik kedua dapat dihasilkan dengan
mengoptimumkan impedansi pada frekuensi fundamental dan frekuensi

*
This research is funded by ITB Research Grant no. 0076/K01.03/PL2.1.5/VI/2005.
Received April 2006, Revised September 25th, 2006, Accepted for publication September 25th, 2006.
100 A. Kurniawan, A. Hasyim & Y. Wahyu

harmoniknya. Patch persegi digunakan sebagai peradiasi daya pada frekeunsi

harmonik kedua yang dibangkitkan oleh osilator. Impedansi patch disesuaikan
secara resistif pada frekuensi harmonik keduanya. Antena patch dirancang
menggunakan bahan mikrostrip Diclad 522 (permitivitas relatif r = 2,5) dengan
ketebalan dielektrik 1,57 mm. GaAs FET AT-8250 digunakan sebagai osilator
dan pengali frekuensi yang berfungsi sebagai komponen aktif. Frekuensi
fundamental dirancang pada pita 2,4 GHz, untuk menghasilkan frekuensi
harmonik kedua pada pita 4,8 GHz. Frekuensi ini dipilih untuk memperluas
keperluan komunikasi yang menggunakan pita ISM band 2.4 GHz tanpa lisensi.
Pengoperasian pita ISM pada frekuensi harmoniknya ditujukan untuk
mengurangi tingkat interferensi pada pita 2,4 GHz.

Kata kunci: antenna aktif; frekuensi harmonik; microstrip patch.

1 Introduction

Recent development on antenna engineering is that the antenna or array antenna

is now integrated with active component to construct what is called an active
antenna. This trend has attracted much attention in producing a compact and
conformal design of antennas, as well as in paving the way into new research
directions and innovations. Conventional technology uses up converters to
translate the frequency into the specified frequency band. However in some
cases, particularly in portable applications, compactness of the equipment and
peripheral often becomes very important. Integrating up converters with
antennas may result in the equipment being more compact and more power-
efficient. Further simplification and reduction in system component required to
deliver higher frequency transmitter can be done by designing the transmitter
that operate at harmonic frequency radiations [1]. This technique, unlike using
an up converter, utilizes higher frequency resulted from the design that the
transmitter is adjusted to have the resonant frequency at its harmonic radiation.
Beam scanning techniques at harmonic frequencies [2]-[3] are also possible to
generate a higher frequency radiation. However, this technique requires a more
complex design and realization, and therefore is not suitable in practice. To
generate a harmonic frequency component, the antenna impedance is designed
to be dominant resistive at the specified harmonic frequency and become
reactive at fundamental and other unwanted harmonic frequencies [4]. In this
work the second harmonic frequency is designed for fundamental frequency of
2.4 GHz in order to generate the output of 4.8 GHz. This antenna can be used to
serve the need of communications using wireless local area network (WLAN)
technology normally operated at 2.4 GHz frequency band, which has been very
crowded and experiencing high interference in some areas.
 Realization of a Second Harmonic Antenna 101

2 Antenna Design and Simulation

The active component of harmonic antenna is implemented using microstrip-

based technology. Transmission line is implemented using microstrip line
technique. Other components can be mounted on the microstrip patch. Strip line
and patch antenna are easy to fabricate using printed circuit technology, which
allows a more compact design. In general, strip line is a transmission line of a
planar strip of width W and a ground plane separated by dielectric material of
thickness h, as shown in Figure 1 [5]. The strip line is configured on the top side
and the ground plane at the bottom side of the microstrip material as shown in
Figure 1, and acts as the transmission media where the electromagnetic wave
propagate.

E
H
Strip konduktor

h Substrat dielektrik

Ground plane (b)

(a)
Figure 1 Microstrip line: (a) Geometric shape, (b) Electric and magnetic field
on strip line.

Negative
resistance

Terminating Transistor Load

network FET Network

ZT,ΓT Zln,Γin Zout,Γout ZL,ΓL

Figure 2 Negative resistance configuration.

102 A. Kurniawan, A. Hasyim & Y. Wahyu

The most common dielectric materials used in the microstrip technique are
duroid [6] with relative permitivity εr = 2.56 εo, quartz (εr = 2.78 εo), alumina (ε
= 9.7εo), silicon (ε = 11.7 εo), teflon (ε = 2.56 εo), with εo is free space
permitivity (εo= 8.854 x10-12 F/m. In this research, we choose diclad materials to
provide a better radiation performance. The harmonic frequency is generated
using FET transistor, which is designed in such a way to produce negative
resistance characteristics, as described in Figure 2.

The characteristic and parameter of the FET transistor is: GaAsFET AT-8250,
with the drain-source voltage Vds = 3 V, and the drain-source current Ids = 20
mA. The S parameter of the FET transistor on a common source configuration is
given by :

S11 = 0,92 -64o; S12 = 0,068 45o

S21 = 3,91 121o; S22 = 0,48 -49o (1)

ZL
6,105|4.56

drain

12,44|4,56 12,44|4,56

Source
Gate
12,055 |4,56

l/4

4,988

Figure 3 Negative resistance oscillator (f = 2.441GHz).

 Realization of a Second Harmonic Antenna 103

The negative resistance-based oscillator will generate a maximum output power

at harmonic frequencies when the load is made to be pure resistive. Oscillator
circuit is fabricated on microstrip diclad 522 material (r = 2.5), and the
thickness of material h = 1.57 mm as shown in Figure 3. Transistor being used
is GaAs FET AT-8250, operated at frequency of 2,4 GHz, drain-source voltage
Vds = 3V, current Ids = 20 mA, and the gate-source voltage Vgs = 0. Antenna
design is performed using simulator software, Ansoft Ensemble 7.0, which is
based on the method of moment technique (MoM-based software). Figure 3
shows the top view of oscillator circuit at 2.441 GHz with load impedance ZL =
99 ohm. The width of microstrip line at characteristic impedance of 50 ohm is
W = 4,56 mm. For bias circuit an R-stub (coke) is used to block AC and to pass
through DC currents.

The design results show that the S parameter on the direction of the load (|Γt|) is
maximal at the centre frequency. The maximum value of |Γt| resulted from the
design is 1.238, which occurs at the frequency f = 2.435 GHz. Changing the Vgs
will change the oscillating frequency and the output power, i.e. decreasing the
Vgs will lower the oscillating frequency and output power.

2.1 Realization of Patch Antenna

Figure 4 shows the top view of the two-element patch array antenna, which is
designed to operate at the second harmonic frequency. The two-element patch
antenna is designed to obtain higher gains. The patch antenna acts as the load
for the oscillator, ZL; while Zin is an input impedance of the patch antenna.

46.367
23.222

18.6366

l/4 Wm = 0.341 19.319

38.639 Wf = 1.3

Zo = 50 Ω Zin = 99 Ω

Figure 4 A two-element patch antenna (dimension in mm).

104 A. Kurniawan, A. Hasyim & Y. Wahyu

At fundamental frequency of 2.441 GHz, input impedance is obtained to be

Zin = -13,613 – j 55,84; (2)

while at the second harmonic frequency, it is found that Zin= 99 ohm, which is
dominant resistive at the second harmonic frequency and dominant capacitive at
the fundamental frequency.

2.2 Design of the Second-Harmonic Antenna

The active second harmonic antenna is obtained when the oscillator circuit is
match-combined with the patch array antenna. To match the impedance
between antenna elements, a coupling scheme in the form of a transmission line
with characteristic impedance of 50 Ohm is used. This is chosen because the
input impedance of each antenna element is 99 Ohm, so that using parallel
feeding scheme from the active circuit the matching condition can be achieved.
46.222
23.222

18.6366

l/4 Wm = 0.341 19.319

38.639 Wf = 1.3

Zo = 50 Ω Zin = 99 Ω
6.105|4.56

drain

12.44|4.56 12.44|4.56

Source Gate
12.055 |4.56

h = 1.57 mm
r = 2.5
l/4
t = 0,03556 mm
tanδ = 0.001
4,988 σ = 5.8x107 s/m

Figure 5 Active second harmonic antenna (dimension in mm).

 Realization of a Second Harmonic Antenna 105

Figure 5 shows the top view of the active second harmonic antenna with two
elements. Antenna elemen-1 and elemen-2 are the passive component at the
two-element patch antenna, which acts as the radiator subsystem. The active
component that constitutes the oscillator FET transistor acts as the second
harmonic frequency generator.

2.3 Simulation Results

The simulation results of the maximum radiation show that at the direction of
Φ= 0o, the output radiation at the second harmonic frequency is P2fo2s = – 42
dBm, while at fundamental frequency is Pfo2s = – 87 dBm (see Table 1).

Table 1 Output power of single patch antenna.

Pdc =Vgs.Igs + Vds.Ids
(DC input power) (Vgs = 0, Igs = 0, Vd s= 3., Ids = 20 mA)
Pdc = 60 mW =
-17.78dBm
Output power without Output power of Output power of second
harmonic generation fundamental frequency harmonic frequency
Pout_an1s = Pfo1 +P2fo1 Pfo1s = -22.3 dBm P2fo1s = - 48.8 dBm
= -22.3 dBm
Output power of second Output power of Output power of the
harmonic frequency design fundamental frequency second harmonic frequency
Pout_an2s =Pfo2 +P2fo2 component component
Pout_an2s = - 42 dBm Pfo2s = -87 dBm P2fo2s = - 42 dBm

This shows that the design and simulation of the second harmonic antenna can
generate the second harmonic frequency output power that is much higher than
its fundamental frequency. In other words, the design is achieved to suppress
the fundamental frequency and other harmonic frequencies except the second
harmonic frequency. To see the loss due to the second harmonic design, we
found that the total output power at the second harmonic frequency is P2fo2s = -
42 dBm; while the total output power of fundamental frequency without the
second harmonic design is Pout_an1s = – 22.3 dBm showing a loss factor of 19.7
dB resulted from the second harmonic frequency generation. The loss factor is
the price to pay for the second harmonic frequency design. The additional loss
of the output power due to construction of the second harmonic frequency
design is found to be 6.8 dB, so that the effective output power which can be
generated at the second harmonic frequency is P2fo1s = – 48,8 dBm.

To see the antenna radiation pattern, Figures 6 and 7 show the electric field
pattern for both the fundamental and the second harmonic frequencies of the
single patch antenna; while Figure 8 shows the electric field pattern of the two-
106 A. Kurniawan, A. Hasyim & Y. Wahyu

element antenna array under consideration at the second harmonic frequency.

We can see that the two-element patch array shows a slightly different radiation
pattern from the single patch antenna due to the pattern superposition of each
element.

Figure 6 E field pattern of the single patch antenna at fundamental frequency.

Figure 7 E field pattern of the single patch antenna at the 2nd harmonic frequency.

Since in this work the patch antenna consists of two element array, the gain
increases theoretically by 3 dB. However, the simulation result shows that the
 Realization of a Second Harmonic Antenna 107

gain measurement of the two-element patch antenna can generate the maximum
output power at Φ = 0 of P2fo2s = – 40 dBm, showing only a 2 dB array gain.

Figure 8 Radiation pattern of a two-element patch array at the 2nd harmonic

frequency.

3 Antenna Measurement
3.1 Output power measurement
At the direction of Φ = 0o for the second harmonic frequency of 4.88 GHz, the
output power measurement PU = - 47.7 dBm as shown in Figure 9.

4.88 GHz

Figure 9 Measurement of output power at second harmonic frequency (4.88

GHz).
108 A. Kurniawan, A. Hasyim & Y. Wahyu

However from simulation, the radiation at the direction of Φ = 0o can generate

the output power of P2fo2s = - 42 dBm. Since the total gain at frequency of 4.88
GHz, GA = 8.2 dB, and the loss due to the attenuation of transmission line and
connector is LKC = 5 dB, the effective level of output power at the second
harmonic frequency is then

P2fo2u = PU -GA + LKC = - 47.7 -8.2 + 5 = - 50.9 dBm (3)

The difference of 8.9 dB between the simulation and the measurement results is
due to the accuracy and the shift of the S parameter resulted in fabrication of the
microstrip material. Fabrication of microstrip is performed using etching and
chemical processes. The dimension obtained from fabrication is not perfect due
to the limited accuracy that can be achieved within available facilities in the
laboratory.

To show the output power at the suppressed fundamental frequency, Figure 10

shows the output of the spectrum measurement of the fundamental frequency of
2.44 GHz.

2,435 GHz
2,441 GHz

Figure 10 Measurement of output power at fundamental frequency (2.44 GHz).

At the direction of Φ = 0o for the fundamental frequency of 2.44 GHz, the

output power measurement PU = - 100.01 dBm. Therefore from the
measurement after considering the antenna gain at 2,44 GHz, GA = 5,3 dB, the
output power level obtained from the measurement is

Pfo2u = PU -GA +LKC = -100.01 – 5.3 + 5 = -110.31 dBm (4)

 Realization of a Second Harmonic Antenna 109

Simulation result shows that the output power at fundamental frequency is Pfo1s
= - 87 dBm. Similar with the second harmonic frequency generation, the output
power of fundamental frequency obtained from measurement is found to be
approximately 23.31 dB below its level obtained from simulation.

From both fundamental and second harmonic frequency measurements, it can

be inferred that the second harmonic frequency can be optimized and the
fundamental frequency component can be suppressed up to approximately 59.41
dB below the second harmonic power level.

The total output power of the active harmonic antenna is -50.9 dBm + (-110.31)
dBm = -50.89 dBm. Therefore, the loss factor due to second harmonic
frequency generation is – 22.29 dB + 50.89 dB = 28.6 dB. Therefore, the design
of second harmonic frequency is obtained by allowing the total loss of the
output power (power loss factor) of 28.6 dB.

Table 2 shows the output power of the two-element patch antenna array with
and without second frequency generation.

Table 2 Output power of the two-element patch antenna.

Pdc =Vgs.Igs + Vds.Ids
(DC supply)
Pdc = 60 mW =
-17.78dBm
Simulated output power
without harmonic
frequency
Pout_an1 =Pfo1 +P2fo1
Pout_an1 = -22.28dBm
Simulated output power
with harmonic frequency
Pout_an2s =Pfo2s +P2fo2s
Pout_an2s = -42 dBm
Measured output power
with harmonic frequency
Pout_an2u =Pfo2u +P2fo2u
Pout_an2 u= -50.89dBm
(Vgs=0, Igs=0,Vds=3., Ids=20mA)
Simulated output power of
fundamental frequency
Pfo1 = -22.29dBm
Simulated fundamental
frequency
Pfo2s = -87dBm
Measured fundamental
frequency
Pfo2u = -110.31dBm
Simulated output power at
second harmonic
frequency
P2fo1 = -48.77dBm
Simulated second
harmonic frequency
P2fo2s = -42dBm
Measured second harmonic
frequency
P2fo2u = -50.9dBm

3.2 Measurement of Radiation Pattern

Measurement of the antenna radiation pattern for the two-element active

antenna at second harmonic frequency is shown in Figure 11. The result shows
that the radiation pattern is very similar to that obtained from simulation.
110 A. Kurniawan, A. Hasyim & Y. Wahyu

However, some side lobes and also back lobe can be observed in both elevation
(theta) and azimuth (phi) patterns. This irregularity of radiation pattern might be
caused by accuracy of fabrication and also by imperfectness of ground plane of
the microstrip material that constitutes the patch antenna array. As we can
observe that on the simulation a perfect conducting plane is assumed to be
perfect. Also the thickness reduction of dielectric and conducting plane of the
microstrip material during etching process is not taken into consideration in the
simulation. This might cause the difference in the characteristic of patch
antenna as the radiator. Also ground plane area is in fact not perfect. Imperfect
ground plane might cause some parasitic effects to the radiation characteristics
of the patch antenna.

0
-2
-4
-6
-8
-10
-12
-14
. -16 (a)

-5

-10

-15

-20

-25

-30 (b)

Figure 11 Radiation pattern of active antenna at second harmonic frequency (a)

Φ plane (b) θ plane.
 Realization of a Second Harmonic Antenna 111

3.3 VSWR and Bandwidth Measurement

The result of VSWR and Bandwidth measurement of the active second

harmonic antenna is shown in Figure 12 below.

2.2
2
SW R

1.8
1.6
1.4
1.2
1
4.8 4.82 4.84 4.86 4.88 4.9 4.92 4.94 4.96 4.98 5
Frequency [GHz]
Figure 12 VSWR and bandwidth measurement of active second harmonic
antenna.

From Figure 12, the value of VSWR = 1.5 at the second harmonic frequency
can produce a bandwidth of approximately 75 MHz; while with a rather loose
requirement of VSWR = 2 the bandwidth obtained can achieve almost 150
MHz. The requirement of VSWR on wireless LAN application, especially for
ISM band application, is specified to be between 1.5 and 2. Therefore the
second harmonic antenna designed and implemented in this work satisfies the
requirement of WLAN application.

4 Conclusion

Wireless application of the ISM band at 2,4 GHz can be extended using
harmonic antenna design, so that the system can be operated at its harmonic
frequencies. The second harmonic frequency design has been investigated using
active antenna and make it possible to be implemented to operate at 4.8 GHz.
Harmonic frequency generation at antenna subsystem is beneficial, in that a
higher operating frequency of wireless communication systems can be deployed
using lower frequency devices. The system can be realized using active antenna
112 A. Kurniawan, A. Hasyim & Y. Wahyu

to generate harmonic frequency. The harmonic antenna system is more efficient

compared to conventional frequency multipliers or up converters, because the
harmonic antenna can translate the operating frequency into a higher frequency
band without requiring frequency multiplier and filters. The antenna subsystem
and impedance matching circuit play an important role in the success of
harmonic antenna design. The system is designed to have pure resistive
impedance at the specified harmonic frequency in order to maximize the output
power at that frequency and to suppress other frequency components.

In this work, the second harmonic frequency component is designed to operate

at 4.88 GHz. The output power of the second harmonic frequency can achieve –
50.9 dBm; while the output power of its fundamental frequency is –110.31
dBm, showing a suppression factor of 59.41 dB. However, to obtain a harmonic
frequency radiation, there is an associated loss factor compared to the
generation of the fundamental frequency without second harmonic frequency
design. In this work, the loss factor of the second harmonic antenna design is
approximately 28.6 dB compared to the output power with direct frequency
generation (without harmonic design).

Accuracy of the design using microstrip material is affected by the fabrication

method and also by ground plane dimension. Impedance matching technique
also affects the accuracy of the design. Accuracy on antenna fabrication results
in some differences of achievable output power obtained from simulation and
that obtained from the real measurement.

5 Further Work

To further extend its application, the third harmonic antenna design can be an
alternative further research direction. In addition, to exploit the availability of
unlicensed band for WLAN applications, the use of 5,2 – 5,8 GHz frequency
band of Unlicensed for National Information Infrastructure (UNII) together
with the ISM at 2.4 GHz band can be investigated using a dual band antenna
design. Therefore, a dual band antenna design at those frequency bands can be
another interesting further research direction.

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IEEE APS Symp. Dig., Newport Beach, CA, July. 1995, pp.1308-1310.
 Realization of a Second Harmonic Antenna 113

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